Certain manufacturers of pickup trucks, have produced pickup trucks having tailgates that are easily removable from the truck. This was done as an advantage to the truck owner, to facilitate removal when the owner is in a hurry. The tailgate has had no lock securing it to the truck bed. Unfortunately, these tailgates have become a target for those who would steal the tailgates installed on trucks on the dealer's lots, as well as from private owners. There is therefore, a need for a locking device that will prevent such unauthorized removal of the tailgate, while at the same time being non-permanent, and easy for an authorized person to disassemble and remove.
Although many locking devices exist, most of these are designed to prevent unauthorized access to a locked box or enclosure. None are intended to prevent any unauthorized person from making off with the item the locking device is intended to secure. Heavy duty locking devices typically require drilling a bolt hole through the cover of the item that is to be secured. There can be no open access to the inside of the container, without unlocking the device, since the securing bolt could then be tampered with. This aspect is notable for example, in the designs of the locking devices of Guiler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,999, Nielsen Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,829 and Michelman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,182. For an open, accessible location such as the inside surface of the truck tailgate, such an arrangement is clearly impermissible, because of the possibility of tampering with the securing bolt. Thus there is a need for a tailgate locking device that, while open to access, can not be easily tampered with.